Pelagic Touch

As I desperately try to fight my lazy self and my desire to be a constant writer of my adventures, the work keeps piling up thus, I am trying to get some stuff out, be it very short and brief.

Date: 20 July 2024

Location: Hawksbay beach, Sandspit beach, Lal Bakhar dam, Soneri Beach, Mubarak Beach, Scheme 42

Weather: Rain, Rain and Rain. Overcast.

On 20th July, I finally agreed to do our early age old plan of a morning ride out to Hawksbay and adjoining lands. This was a shared dream with SA and SS, my partners in crime these days while the other cousin gang is busy with higher studies.

Anyhow, SA bailed out a night before due to repair of his phone but then agreed to make it the latest by 1000 hrs on 20th. He made it by 1210. I took out the grey babe and met him by 1245 at Tower bus stop. As soon as I got closer to Tower, it had started raining and thankfully SA got in the car just in time because the rain did not stop for the next 20 minute ride to Hawksbay. SS joined us at the Hawksbay road outside Budhni goth cut because the entrance had a lot of water puddled (in reality, I did not want to go pick him up since that would mean saying hi to all of my maternal family since almost all live in the same block at Budhni goth and everyone recognises the Grey babe). Just as SS sat in, MS met us on his bike, he was headed for home. He said the roads were blocked due to unsafe waves but he could get us through. He asked us to wait at his shop at Maripur road which we did. He never came but it was a waste of 30 minutes. We ended up hitting Manora rd offshooting from Kakapir village/ Sandspit. Here in the creek on the left, found 6 Curlews being disturbed by Crows. Then we made our move hitting Sandspit backwaters on our way back. Here in the pools there is always something good: there were at least 12 Common terns and 3 Little terns. Unfortunately, the whole area is being eaten alive by a mafia with no respect for the wildlands and key habitats that abound here. I WISH I had done something to stop it in time.

Isn't she a beaut, free car wash from the rain

The Curlews disturbed from along the edges of the mangroves. These are graceful waders, at least in flight.

Common Terns and a Little Tern

This area was a vast scrub patch opening up to the edges of the mangrove creeks where even Dalmatian Pelicans used to land in winters and rest out in the open. No more of that is going to happen anymore sadly.

Next stop was Lal Bakhar dam. This was the first time ever in 4 years of sporadic visits when I have seen the dam actually completely empty. The sight warranted a big deep sigh. I hope the upcoming monsoon rains fill it right up. The dam bed has been dregded and teared up to remove sand. The sand mining mafia is extremely strong in Pakistan and this is yet another battle for some day. The water had been extracted by tankers as well, the pipes lay there. This is a place where on my first visit in 2020, I saw my first duck species ever, Pochards and multitudes of nesting Little Grebes till eye could see and even Red necked Phalaropes and Common Coots. Just the perfect waterhole for all of the wildlife around, I am not sure what will happen when the surrounding housing societies spring up. Pakistanis and their obsession with Housing societies.

Lal Bakhar dam

Never seen this place so devoid of water

We passed through the Coast Guard chowki while it was raining and they did not care to even ask us where we were going _ a common practice here. The ride till Soneri was fun and full of Black Drongos, Little swifts, Great Gray Shrikes, Common Babblers and Green Bee eaters. 

Churna Island after fresh downpour

We were hardly a kilometre from the Soneri harbour when we saw a flock of Greater Flamingos landing right in the middle of the harbour! This was SA's lifer although he hardly takes much interest in bird watching these days. A speedy arrival at the harbour resulted in good views of the Flamingos (No Lessers) and some very funny looks from the locals at me parking right in the middle of the muddy track.

SA's lifer!

Landing right in the middle of the harbor

Here we go. Interestingly, this mudflat/ estuarine area was home to a Satellite-tagged Whimbrel in early May of this year. Hopefully, we can get a small piece on that bird in the upcoming issue of Daangeer.

GSS on main Soneri road!

The vlogger (SS) and the driver (SA). I took the wheels from SA after Soneri and boy was he unamused.

I have never seen such aged GSS

Xerophytic vegetation on the outskirts of the harbor.

Common Babbler. I need to get to Nushki to figure out how to differentiate between these and Afghan Babblers, a split I am not too sure may last in the future since they are virtually impossible to tell apart from morphology and hardly any work has been done on their calls.

Asian Green Bee-eaters

I did not make a move for Manjar goth as I knew the unpaved track in the start would get very sticky in this rain and I definitely did not want this day to be my first wrenching experience. And off we went to Mubarak goth. We parked a bit earlier than usual for 200rs and started walking towards the right where the low rocky outcrops and tidepools offer a better, more peaceful spot than the beach crowds. We walked a little till I found a good spot to sit and survey the waves. Meanwhile, SS helped SA clean off his clothes, he slipped and fell on the slippery rocks right after I pointed out the tracks of an unfortunate soul who was there for us. Talk about irony.

Mubarak village

Since it was already 1640 I did not want to be here very late, I focused on the waves for any movement which could be a Pelagic. Soon came a Greater Crested Tern flyby at least a Kilometre out, next up was a juvenile tern, most likely a Common tern and a pair of Curlews on the horizon headed East. Towards Manora?

Greater-crested Tern

Curlews

I was scouring the waves for a moment and just then some tiny, black birds with white rumps caught my eye. These looked very similar to Little swifts but they were not even remotely closely related. My hands started shaking as I took some rough photos of my lifer: Wilson's Storm Petrels. These were very interesting birds and I enjoyed their behaviour a lot. You know how sometimes, you read about a bird and their habits in books so many times and then you actually see them in the wild, it gives you the creeps. Well, the bird gliding on the waves and vanishing behind the wave crests certainly was a highlight. 

As bad as it gets in terms of record shots.

Wilson's Storm Petrel

There is talk to split this species further based on their nesting grounds. Lets see where that gets us, more confusion awaits.

I have seen Skua species here only once before and that too right here on my last visit (April) but I think this encounter was my first true Pelagic bird encounter. I took as many shots as I could. The cloudy overcast weather was not helping but hey, the black specs would just do. Now I am not the one to be competitive in titles and photo numbers but this right here was the supposed first known photograph of this species from Pakistan. 

Pretty neat! But also talks about how little worked upon our pelagic side of affairs is.

And hey, we hit Scheme 42 on our way back.

"Goth" means village in Sindhi/ Balochi. Most Goths in the Hawksbay-Mubarak Village region are friendly. Pun intended, you would not find Goths/ Emos here 

Did not expect to run into this guy. Mubarak is mainly devoid of thick scrub or tree cover but they manage here somehow.

Scheme 42, on our way back. There is a Francolin in the middle of the frame while 3 youngsters are hiding in the dead bush to the right behind the Calotropis (Milkweed).

Hawksbay Hills, soon vanishing to power plants and factories of sorts. I am thinking of submitting a proposal to Lyari Development Authority (LDA) for some parks/ wild spaces here and there in this region before it is all eaten away. SalB tells me it won't get anywhere, He may be right. Sometimes, I forget which country I live in for a hot few seconds_That period is nice, I can imagine how I want to. Reality may (actually is) be far from how I want it but at least I shall try and find out.

Maripur road enroute home. Dropped SA at Tower bus stop.

I will try my best to keep writing and logging. 2024 is my year. Hopefully.